On Saturday, April 26, 1986 at 1:23:58 am local time, a disaster occurred in the Ukrainian nuclear power plant of Chernobyl.

Radioactivity hasn’t abated and it will remain the biggest problem for many more generations.

Located near the Ukraine-Belarus border, Chernobyl has been the specific focus of most documentaries concerning the disaster. With good reason, the specific site has been scientifically equated to 150 times the radioactivity of Hiroshima.

Certainly the immediate area within Ukraine was affected, however, Belarus, just 4 miles above Ukraine, received 75% of the radiation of Chernobyl. The wind after the disaster blew continually towards Belarus. Because of that wind, one fourth of the country was, and still is, contaminated, forcing most of the people to move.

The battle for the Belarusian people is far from over. I want to show the world the truth of this aftermath still affecting the daily lives of those destined to live in a radioactive haze.

What makes this documentary different than all others? Chernobyl itself has been reported on repeatedly, nearly creating a sense that it is the only place that still has issues from its accident 26 years ago. We always see or hear about the aftermath of Chernobyl in Ukraine.

However, when has it been covered through the eye of a photographer in Belarus? I will be experiencing an annual voyage with a family, residing in Minsk, to Nadtovhaev, Homyel, Belarus. While 150 kilometers from the accident site, Homyel and surrounding areas have restrictions on how long and how far ex-residents of the affected areas may visit yearly.

The national restrictions lift yearly, just after Easter, for four days only. With your help, I will be able to finance the plane tickets and necessary visas required to bring this story to the world.

Too often, we hear about the center of a disaster. However, the larger problems often go unnoticed, lurking in the periphery, sinking into the earth like thoughts and problems we don’t want to acknowledge. Chernobyl affected more than small villages 26 years ago and a few miles away; it affects an entire quarter of a country today, a country that never harbored the power plant to begin with.